King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard

Oddments (Flightless)

After the psychedelia and blues-tinged garage rumble of 2012’s 12 Bar Bruise, King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard veer headlong into studio-tanned nuttery. The Melbourne, Australia-based brain pokers revel in disregard for fidelity. If your neighbors dig Steely Dan, these extra-stubbly appendages of exploding bubblegum degradation are sure to elicit groans of disapproval. Oddments opens on a Casio horse stampede that gives way to a blaring Hollywood musical swatch and swirling Hammond organ flashbacks. With its out-of-tune piano foundation, “Vegemite” hits like a sun-damaged Banana Splits outtake. “Hot Wax” couples incendiary harmonica with reverberant horror-film rattles and a sneering, pelvic riff. The whole package explodes like a carnival ride rife with soul-churning switchbacks for low-rent thrill-seekers. (Fri., 4:30pm, Reverberation Stage)

***.5

This article appears in May 2 • 2014.

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Greg Beets was born in Lubbock on the day Richard Nixon was elected president. He has covered music for the Chronicle since 1992, writing about everyone from Roky Erickson to Yanni. Beets has also written for Billboard,Uncut, Blurt, Elmore, and Pop Culture Press. Before his digestive tract cried uncle, he co-published Hey! Hey! Buffet!, an award-winning fanzine about all-you-can-eat buffets.